Another year and here we are back on Cockatoo Island to begin the annual inspection. I have been unable to locate Ted Wilson and will have to escalate the situation if the impass persists. A pleasure to see John and the other staff we have come to rely on to complete our work.
Yesterday Laura and her team reported that some of the staff were concerned that the smells noticed in the vicinity of the cavernous areas where we set rat poison several years ago were an indication that these pests have returned. This has made the situation with Ted Wilson whereby we are prevented from inspecting these areas untenable. I spoke with John who tried to reach Ted and found him on the ferry headed home. It appears that Ted has become increasingly erratic and spends much of his time in the ‘cave’, even sleeping there. The staff consensus was to forcibly remove the lock and enter in order to conduct the inspection, but nothing had prepared us for the experience that ensued.
Even as I write about this tonight I find myself immersed in the mysteries of this cave, reliving the experience as if I were still there. The sweet smell of beeswax mixes with the odour of fertile, humid soil. My eyes resist the dimness of the cave and I rub my face. I look around in this uneasy environment and see a workspace, crammed with tools and a section of soil in the back. It looks like an excavation. The walkway I am on leads me past buckets, tubs and tools, piles of slabs of beeswax and a makeshift desk full of uncleaned, earthy artefacts. I find myself standing in front of a honeycombed section of soil, at eye-level with cavities and tunnels that branch deep into this earthen wall. The hollows compose a larger form, something like a mould of a human female figure. Am I the only one who is seeing this? What is going on here?
I’ve been very busy with assignments but managed to get back to Ted’s cave this weekend. Since the lock was broken I can basically get in any time I want, though I don’t want to attract too much attention or they may lock it again. I also don’t want other people going inside and removing objects or rearranging things before I’ve had a chance to explore. It’s hard to know what could be in the mind of the person who made all this stuff. They feel like religious objects of veneration or the means to a ritual, but it is so foreign that it’s hard to image let alone visualize what is going on.
As I wander about I often find myself in a maze of twisty little passages, all of them different, as if I were in a colossal cave.
I have decided to put a lock on the entrance to the cave. The staff and rangers clearly have no interest in it and I am worried that someone else will get it. Ted Wilson seems to have had a lock on it for a year and possibly two without any one noticing, so I should be OK. It is a shame that I can only come on the weekends.
Today I took a few pictures of some of the objects inside. I am contemplating cataloguing them.
A quick trip this weekend without accomplishing much. I have to go away for a couple of weeks and so will not be able to visit again for awhile.
I have spent significant time traveling over the last few weeks and have been too involved in other matters to post. But during this time I thought a great deal about the artefacts in the ‘cave’ and I have become more determined to uncover their hidden meaning. So, I have come to the conclusion that I need to put more focus on the crude lab I started in Building 2. As a result, I set about to accumulate some more equipment during my travels and so far have acquired the following items:
I hope to install these items on site as soon as possible.
There are a number of people milling around on Cockatoo lately; it looks like some sort of art exhibition. I hope they stay out of my way so that I may continue my investigations. In any event I must cover the entrance to the cave to keep out the curious.
Got back to the island this weekend in order to install some equipment. Took a camera along this time for a few shots, like this one of the building in which I have been permitted to set up the lab. I am strangely attracted to a number of the artefacts I have discovered, especially those made of beeswax, and would like to mount them in such a way that I can easily review them as I explore the meaning of Ted’s creations. It occurs to me to wonder if there could be anything hidden inside these objects.
As the number of artefacts I have examined grows larger I find I must return to tagging them as the relationships are too complex to retain in memory. I here show the process for those who may be interested.
I have now had some time to puzzle over the many artefacts uncovered in the cave and elsewhere. I am drawn with a strange fascination, deeply seated, at times disturbing, towards the primordial, emotionally laden images and objects. Some I would hold close. Some I would enshrine. Some are too deeply imbued with the personal lives of others so that I am shy to intrude. This is a story that unfolds not only here on Cockatoo but at remote locations that I hesitate to reveal.
